music and translations

I decided to at least try making this a real blog where I chat/blather about things I'm interested in and if anybody in our poetry group is interested, well they can read and comment.

I came across Nick Cave and the Bad Seed's new album, "Dig!!! Lazarus Dig!!!" recently at the library. Since I am such a big Bob Dylan fan, I am always excited to hear new singer-songwriters. Nick Cave takes Dylan and one-ups him in the sinister and sexy department, which may not be everybody's cup of tea, but he certainly has his literary hat in these 11 songs. And his band, the Bad Seeds, turn out some wonderful sounding songs, from the barnyard stomp of the title song to the trippy keyboards on the 2nd-to-last song and the steady roll of the album closer. I was surprised at first by the variety of sounds, from punk to pastoral pop to the aforementioned stomp, but I read that Cave got his chops in a punk band, so we know where that comes from and he has also written a western (set in his homeland Australia) called the Proposition (worth seeing if you have the stomach from some grisly parts). Anyways, I thought I would pass that along.

Also came across a Poetry site which collects translations from all around the world. It is aptly titled "Words without borders" and you can find translations from Africa, the Americas, Europe, and the Far East. Pretty exciting to have this sort of exposure. A really great opportunity to explore other lands without having to leave your computer screen. The address is:

http://www.wordswithoutborders.org/

happy reading and writing.